Dunfermline Phoenix ended 2016 as league leaders in the Perth & District Volleyball League after their games at Bell’s Sports Centre on Sunday evening.
Carole Franchequin-Hardy’s Dunfermline side were first on court on Sunday against Gregor Walker’s Hits & Giggles, both sides currently undefeated along with Perth PLUS who had no games in this round of fixtures. Hits & Giggles settled well to storm ahead 18-6 which left the Dunfermline side reeling but the Fife side picked themselves up and put up a plucky performance before succumbing 18-25. The second set was a real thriller with the score reaching 23 points each. Both sides held set point until Dunfermline eventually pulled ahead to win 28-26. With two minutes remaining it was fiting that the scoreline read one point each thus sharing the points and keeping both sides’ undefeated record intact.
Dunfermline then took on Jamie Booth’s Kinross Mongrels and this too was a close one. The Fife side took the first set 25-18 but found themselves chasing the game as they played second fiddle to Mongrels who led 23-22 at full time. Mongrels followed this up with a victory over Matthew Moloney’s local rivals Kinross Juniors. The Kinross Juniors were clearly out of sorts and they finished the evening going down by two sets to love against Perth High “B.”
Hits & Giggles also dumped the High “B” team to keep their title hopes alive.
Jane Cafferty’s championship contenders Hitting Bricks kept up their challenge with two fine victories over Katie Hughes’ Perth HIgh “C” and Barbara Moffat’s Tay Pearls thus tucking themselves in nicely behind league leaders Dunfermline only two points separating the sides. Pearls also lost out to Iain Cook’s Aberfeldy with the Breadalbane side also winning against Cath Middleton’s Perth High “A.” The High “A” and Rodney Thomson’s Kinross BB were then involved in a three set game with the High winning the first set, the BB the second and the High edging the third set decider 11-8.
Ian McGrath’s Motley Crew pulled themselves into third equal position defeating Kinross BB and Perth High “C” with young David Kukla showing some nice attacking skills.
How the table stands:
| Pld | Won | Drwn | Lost | Sets Won | Sets Lost | Pts For | Pts Agst | League Points | |
| Dunfermline Phoenix | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 396 | 272 | 70 |
| Hitting Bricks | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 3 | 385 | 235 | 68 |
| Perth PLUS Mental Health | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 300 | 134 | 60 |
| Motley Crew | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 363 | 301 | 60 |
| Hits & Giggles | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 301 | 219 | 54 |
| Aberfeldy | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 324 | 311 | 40 |
| Kinross BB | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 343 | 377 | 38 |
| Perth High School ‘A’ | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 272 | 366 | 33 |
| Kinross Juniors | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 243 | 248 | 30 |
| Kinross Mongrels | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 224 | 200 | 29 |
| Tay Pearls | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 255 | 365 | 21 |
| Perth High School ‘C’ | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 167 | 400 | 8 |
| Perth High School ‘B’ | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 105 | 250 | 5 |
This Sunday sees the final round of Premier League fixtures prior to the festive shut-down.
Sunday’s fixtures (refereeing team in brackets):
| 19:00 | SoVoBo | v | Scotrange | (Kintronics) | Mental Eagles | v | Team Fife | (Hitting Bricks) | |
| 19:45 | Dodgy Spikers | v | Hitting Bricks | (Scotrange) | SoVoBo | v | Team Fife | (Mental Eagles) | |
| 20:30 | Mental Eagles | v | Scotrange | (Dodgy Spikers) | Kintronics | v | Hitting Bricks | (Team Fife) | |
| 21:15 | Team Fife | v | Hitting Bricks | (Scotrange) | Dodgy Spikers | v | Kintronics | (SoVoBo) |
Perth & Kinross Junior Boys’ team finished their under 18 league fixtures at Loch Leven Campus on Sunday playing for runners’ up slot with two games against South Ayrshire and Beacon Blaze of Aberdeen.
Perth & Kinross started well taking the first set against South Ayrshire (25-22)but the west side pulled back level before sealing victory (25-19; 15-9).
Against Beacon Blaze it was the Aberdeen side who took the first set 25-21 but the Perth & Kinross Boys pulled the game level in a thrilling second set 25-23. The third set was also tight with the Aberdeen side just edging victory 17-15.
These results see Perth & Kinross finish in third position behind winners City of Edinburgh and runners up Sout Ayrshire.